6 posts tagged “mental health”

I would never have picked this one up on my own. My book club chose it. After my initial resistance, I became absorbed in the story. If you have an appreciation for Gothic literature, you'll probably really enjoy this one.

The characters, while somewhat two-dimensional, are still fascinating in their personalities that range from well-meaning (but clueless) to all out psychotic.

One of the best aspects of the book is in how direct dialogue from two of the characters is limited. It lends an extra eerie quality to the story.

I would also recommend this book because it's one of the least predictable stories I've read in quite a while. I did figure out the "twist" shortly before it was revealed, and some in the book club felt it was contrived, but it's creative, so I can look past how unlikely it was.

This was my second book by Murakami. I picked this one up for two reasons. First it's his most popular book in Japan and the book that created his notoriety. Second, it's the only book he wrote that is straight-forward. He said in an interview that his reason for writing this book was to see if he could write a story without magical realism.

This book gave me a better feel for Murakami. In the future if someone asks which book to start with I'll recommend this one.

As in Kafka on the Shore I had a really hard time believing in the characters (they all feel like the same person to me) and caring for them (they feel two-dimensional).

The part that really didn't work was Murakami, a man, writing about female sexual experiences. It just didn't ring true at all. Just one example: two women had sex with one particular man and it was so good they swore off sex for the rest of their lives.

But, as in the previous book, I did appreciate the overarching story. What would it be like to continually know people close to you committing suicide? Or to continually be involved in three-way friendships?

What a strange book. Since finishing it I have heard that Palahniuk always writes about the same angry man. I'll have to read more to judge that, but this book is great. Not because he is writing about an angry guy. Not because of all the shocking details.

I am impressed that he could use the shocking details and such an angry protagonist to make some pretty great points about who we are--and who we think we are.

Looking forward to reading another Palahniuk novel now.

This book doesn't have a cover picture because it's been out of print for some time. It took a lot of searching to find it. Eventually, I bought it in a compilation collection from someone in New Zealand.

Last December I was reading a forgotten author named William Samson. This December it was Storm Jameson. She wrote over 20 books and was very popular during the Great Depression, but has sense disappeared into obscurity.

So was it worth the hunt? It was. The very short book is one of the most haunting I have run across. It takes place all in one day and is sort of a A Christmas Carol in reverse.

The main character has recently lost her boyfriend and she remembers some of the events that led her to grow so bitter. She is suspicious of everyone who offers her any consideration, and in the end she has a choice and she betrays a woman who is kind to her. In effect, that moment, like Ebenezer repenting on his grave, she seals her psychological fate.

Definitely not as heart warming as A Christmas Carol, but it has just as much to say about the human spirit. Each of us chooses who we become--not by what happens to us--but by how we choose to interpret what happens to us.

Of Mice and Men is about poverty and loneliness. And people have written a lot about both themes. But there is another theme as well. Two guys with nothing in common form a friendship and stick together. Other characters find it suspect because guys usually travel alone from one ranch to another without forming any authentic relationships or bonds.

But George and Lenny, the main characters they know life, even a life of extreme poverty, is a little bit better with a friend. Or, at least, George knows that. The reader is never sure how much Lenny really understands.

As a testament to friendship this book is more than just tragic. It's heartbreaking yet beautiful.

As as aside, this is another book that really should not be taught in high school. It's too complicated for kids to understand. They just haven't lived long enough.

And I wonder how many other Lost fans read this book and image George as Sawyer from Lost. I just couldn't stop doing that. Really, I wonder if his character wasn't at least partially inspired by George's tough guy exterior but heart of gold interior.

This was my first Pynchon book. I have always heard lots of great things about this author, so I was eager to read it. Now, I just don't know what to say about it.

A story about covert postmen? They were organized and stealthy...like a cross between organized crime and martial arts experts. Maybe they were mobster-ninja mailmen? Oh, and of course, they were British.

If this makes little sense, this is sort of the way the book was written. One rambling, coincidental scenario and story after another.

It was interestingly far-fetched, and the style matched what he was trying to say about life. Although it did keep the characters at a distance--probably more commentary about life though.

It was also nice to see a woman at the forefront of a detective story. Not so crazy about the fact that she was also a bit flighty, emotional, and even hysterical at times.

So, imagine Play It As It Lays (it's California, it's drugs, it's the 60s) but with more a sense of humor and then set it in a noir background and you might start to get a sense of this book.

Also, I could not help but think about the ending to Eyes Wide Shut. That might sound strange, but both are about secret societies and leave the main character wondering if anything that happened was actually real.